Following my blog - the changes

In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs. 

As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other Open Id providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.

We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.

We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.

Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer

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The date for this to be in effect is Jan 11, but a number of my blogging friends (and me) have already noticed a drop in Followers.  I'm sorry if this causes any issues or inconvenience to any of my Followers.  I do hope that you will create a Google account so that you can continue to follow both me and anyone else who uses Blogger.  

Once you create a Google account, you will need to become a Follower again because all previous Followers who did not have an account will be permanently removed from our Follower lists.  If you choose not to open a Google account, you can still follow my blog using Bloglovin' or via email.  You will need to check each blog that you currently follow to see what options they have for you.

I really appreciate all of my Followers and hope that you will continue to follow my blog going forward.